Differences between the novel and film endings of The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath -- the Movie and the Novel

There are quite dramatic differences between the ending of the film version of "The Grapes of Wrath" and the final chapter in the book (chapter 30) -- John Steinbeck's brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. In fact the last chapter of the novel is so totally dissimilar from the John Ford-directed film one wonders why Hollywood would cut out such engrossing drama as Steinbeck has presented through the printed word. But Hollywood loves happy endings, after all. This paper points out some of those differences and contrasts between novel and film.

In the book (Chapter 30)

The rain is hammering down relentlessly, causing the creek to rise dangerously high. In the boxcar Rose of Sharon is getting ready to deliver her baby (a child that turns out to be stillborn). So outside a potential natural calamity is threatening to occur and in the boxcar a new baby is about to be born -- there is hope for this struggling culture of humanity. The men were "beyond weariness" their faces "were set and dead," Steinbeck wrote (p. 441); but Rose of Sharon by now was screaming in pain so "…every little while" Pa peeked into the boxcar to ask, "All right?" But it was not all right.

Meantime the way Steinbeck describes the incessant rain is very realistic. The family is being flooded out of the only dry place they could find, a boxcar. So they retreat to a barn that is located on higher ground. They get soaking wet in the process. In that barn the Joads find a man and a boy; the boy finds a dry blanket and Rose of Sharon removes her wet clothes and wraps the blanket around her body. The man in the barn is terribly ill -- his face is "wasted" and his eyes are "frightened" -- and he is apparently starving to death. So "Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast," Steinbeck writes on page 455. In other words, as the Joad family escapes rising floodwaters and finds shelter and some degree of warmth, the daughter who has given birth to a stillborn baby is now offering life through the nourishment of her milk that was intended for the baby. The baby is dead, but the dying man can possibly be saved with the milk that was originally intended for the baby.

Conclusion

The Grapes of Wrath is a great film, winning the Best Picture Oscar among other awards. But the book offers a better and deeper understanding of the abject poverty, blight, and the desperation of the Dust Bowl survivors then the film does. The book and the film each can stand alone as great creative works, but it is a shame Hollywood had to change the ending to make it happy. That said, it is also a shame that Hollywood didn't follow the book's ending, although the movies would never in that era have shown Rose of Sharon allowing a dying man to suckle the milk from her full breast. The symbolism of having a woman who gave birth to a deceased baby use the baby's milk to keep another human alive would have been so relevant and powerful in the film. But it's powerful and relevant in the novel, a mysterious yet somewhat hopeful symbolic ending -- and Steinbeck continues to be revered for his masterpiece.